I think we serve to gain more from a proper NMG, personally.
The Rabid's very nice and definitely something I think we should do at some point, but we serve to gain much more from a proper NMG than a better semiauto.
I decided to write a design after all, though this is much more "committee designed" and is largely just me writing up specifications discussed with others.
NAF-NMG-51 "Emu"Being
ripped off from inspired by the tragically-banned M2 Browning that entered service in the 30s, the Emu NMG is an entirely new NMG built from the ground-up to work with the new principles of warfare.
It uses the popular .50 BMG round and is aimed to be
very roughly the same size and dimensions of the existing Wictor - just at least similar enough so we can use it on the same mounts with little to no adapting of the mounts, though minor modification (included in this design) may be needed in the coaxial hippo mount - such as moving the mount back or opening up the "hole" in the armor or the like.
The crank is built in for maximum ergonomics and fire rate, and a speed limiter is installed to prevent weapon jamming. The mounts can lock in place to maximize accuracy and to avoid bobbing caused by spinning the crank. The entire gun is generally aimed to just be "built better" than the Wickers, which is roughly 40 years old; modernization and streamlining is a general goal.
The barrel is notably longer in order to facilitate the .50 rounds but we anticipate the barrel length to generally not factor into mount compatibility. A crew of three is roughly planned - the spotter, the gunner, and the loader - though it should have zero problems with bigger crews for whatever reason. As an afterthought, the gun can be fit to be carried on the backs of particularly determined soldiers.
An optional attachment exists: a sort of water cooler that can be attached to the barrel. This should allow crews to make tea with their weapon, and we've put care in to eliminate that greasy taste complained about in the Wictor.
TL;DR: We ripoff the M2 Browning but design it with a crank in mind, then add an optional "thermos" to go around the barrel to make non-greasy tea with.
NAF-BC-51 "Rabid" (With both-resets) (2): Mandemon, Stabby,10ebbor10
NAF-BC-51 "Rabid" (With half-reset) (2): BBBence, NUKE9.13
NAF-SCR-51 "Repeater" (With both-resets) (0):
NAF-SCR-51 "Repeater" (With half-reset) (0):
NAF-NMG-51 "Rainmaker" (1): Frostgiant,
NAF-SPAT-51 "Paradigm-DR" (0):
NAF-NMG-51 "Emu" (1): Chiefwaffles